The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 32

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 32. Klam
“Hey, hey!! You vagabonds there, stop.”
“If you want to live, hand over what you’ve got and clear off. By the look of you, seems like you’ve crawled out from some battlefield as a straggler.”
“And you there, boy. Take off that armor and equipment on your limbs before you go.”
A band of men suddenly emerged from the quiet road.
Klam’s face twisted as he took in the sight of about fifteen bandits, each equipped with sharp weapons and respectable-looking armor.
“What? Bandits roaming the outskirts of Trian? That’s not something you hear every day.”
“They’re certainly well-equipped. I’ve heard tales of mercenaries who hunted monsters only to turn to banditry, but I wonder if that’s the case here?”
The two spoke to each other without a hint of fear, utterly composed, and for a moment the bandit leader who’d stepped forward hesitated.
‘Are they capable? Surely not…….’
His gaze swept over them again from head to toe.
The middle-aged man in back wore what looked like tattered metal scraps barely held together—his complexion was deathly pale, his limbs wrapped thoroughly in bloodstained bandages.
The boy with the oddly distinctive equipment on his limbs had his chest armor shattered to pieces, with blood smeared across various parts of his clothing.
And most tellingly, they were walking down the road dragging two horses instead of riding them.
‘No knight would be unable to ride a horse…….’
So he felt certain that the spear slung across the middle-aged man’s back and the boy’s greatsword were both mere bluffing.
His judgment: remnants of a mercenary band that had failed to subjugate a monster somewhere and barely survived.
But then.
“Mercenaries? If we leave any witnesses, we’ll be wanted men for life……. So either they’ve left no witnesses and killed everyone so far, or this is their first attempt…….”
The moment the deathly pale middle-aged man’s gaze swept over his own appearance, the bandit leader felt an inexplicable chill.
And then.
“Well, there’s no need to investigate further, is there? They’re trash anyway—we just clean them up here and be done with it.”
When the boy stepped forward with a sinister smile, the leader instinctively started to retreat—but then caught himself.
‘He can’t be more than twenty…….’
Realizing his own shameful reaction, he ground his teeth together.
And it seemed the rest of his men felt the same way.
“Get both of them!”
“These stragglers dare……!”
“Kill them!!”
“Don’t damage the horses!”
Fifteen men—mercenaries, or rather bandits—raised their weapons and rushed forward with battle cries.
It was then that a sigh escaped from Klam, the blue-haired middle-aged man.
“Never thought I’d see this kind of thing happen in Trian while I’m still alive…….”
“Our condition isn’t particularly good, is it? Especially yours, Klam. You can’t even ride a horse.”
“Heh. Youth has its advantages. Though your recovery rate defies any natural explanation.”
“That’s…….”
Muno grinned and drew his greatsword without hesitation.
“……something special.”
Thump.
Crack!
Leaving only a single deep footprint behind, he vanished from that spot like the wind itself.
‘Definitely…….’
The distance closed at dizzying speed.
Watching the bandits’ eyes widen with shock, Muno smiled thinly.
‘……different.’
Immediately after the battle with the mages, he hadn’t been able to feel it because of his injuries.
But now, with the wounds across his pierced back nearly healed, he could fully sense the strength coursing through his transformed body.
The greatsword gripped tightly trembled with barely restrained power.
‘These men don’t warrant such force, but…….’
At least he should test his changed abilities properly once, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
First of all.
‘Acceleration.’
Thump.
A technique that he’d used once before against Karina and promptly collapsed—the cornerstone of his family’s secret arts.
What originally should have consumed fat and protein explosively from within his body now manifested fully, powered instead by modest calories and vast reserves of Magical Power.
“Wha—!!”
As the bandits’ cries of alarm sounded stretched and sluggish to his ears.
Muno’s body was already sweeping past them, his greatsword singing through the air.
Slash, slash, slash.
Crash!
Some swung their weapons; others turned to flee; still others froze mid-stride, unable to do either.
The greatsword descended on every one of them, impartial and swift.
The result.
Crack-crack-crunch.
“……A spellcaster. Damn it…….”
“Ugh…….”
Thud.
Thump.
Only a handful—the leader among them—managed a scream.
The rest simply split in two and rolled across the ground.
In broad daylight, the brigands who had coveted two horses came to an end so utterly hollow it seemed almost unreal.
“Hmm…….”
And they didn’t even manage to resist before falling. How disappointing.
‘There was still more I wanted to test.’
Whirrrr.
After sweeping away the brigands in an instant, Muno felt the vibration of his greatsword and the faint resistance in his palm, and his tongue flicked across his lips with satisfaction.
‘Maybe I should have gone for the armor instead of the vitals. No—the blade would’ve shattered. It’s already damaged from the last fight…….’
He was turning over the one-sided slaughter in his mind, considering what he might have done better, when
Klam, as if reading his thoughts, let out a soft laugh and spoke.
“Surprised they were so weak?”
“Well, somewhat. How were these people even brigands with skill like that?”
“Because they’re only this skilled, that’s why they resort to brigandry. It’s how the rotten-hearted eat—they never stop to think that this kind of pathetic death was always coming for them. Idiots, really.”
At those words, Muno nodded unconsciously.
Unless there were special circumstances, this world issued one sentence for serious crimes: robbery, murder, rape—death, without exception.
There was no soft sentimentality about imprisoning criminals and reforming them. The world simply didn’t work that way.
‘Most countries didn’t even have the economic means for it.’
In a world that divided humanity into ranks and classes, who would trouble themselves with a prisoner’s rights?
Setting aside the risk that an innocent person might receive a harsh punishment with no recourse, Muno actually preferred the justice system of this era to his past life.
At least a man who violated a small child and left them irreparably broken didn’t walk free after a mere ten or fifteen years in a cell.
‘Or did he? If that man were a high nobleman or royalty, he might never see a cell at all…….’
What would I do if I encountered someone like that?
‘Just beat him to death and cover my tracks? Or something more discreet……?’
Knowing his own temperament as he did, he didn’t even entertain the option of looking the other way.
But in a class-based world like this, laying hands on a nobleman or royal wouldn’t end the way it had in his past life—a mere firing from a company for mindlessly assaulting a superior.
He didn’t want to end his life on an impulse, no matter how justified his anger.
‘So what do I do……?’
What way forward was there that could protect his life, even if he did strike?
He was tracing this line of thought from memories of his past life into his present philosophy when
“Anyway, that was quite impressive, Muno. That was Acceleration, wasn’t it?”
Klam’s next words pulled his mind back to the present.
“Yes? Ah, you know well.”
“Of course I do. I’ve seen Raion use it several times. But he didn’t start using Acceleration until after he hit rank 3.”
“Well, that…….”
“And why aren’t you wasting away like him? One use of Acceleration and Raion’s half-starved, eating entire roasted pigs to recover…….”
Muno stared at Klam with a baffled expression as the stream of words poured out.
“Um……. Ah…….”
The man who had always spoken to him with formal deference as a guest of the Count was suddenly treating him casually—it felt too strange.
His inner thoughts slipped out before he could catch them.
“……You certainly speak freely now. I wish you’d done this from the start.”
“You brat! Saving your life once entitles you to more hospitality than a mere guest deserves. From now on, you’re just a junior’s son!”
“I’ve been asking you to treat me that way since the beginning.”
“Quiet. I have my own principles. Anyway, how did you manage it? You were practically at Karina’s level just then. But you’re still rank 2—you shouldn’t have pulled off Acceleration like that, and your energy consumption was barely noticeable.”
……So this was what he was really like.
His earlier words surfaced again in Muno’s mind.
– Everyone lives in complicated ways.
It didn’t sound wrong.
‘Just as I can’t reveal all my own secrets.’
Muno saw the hunger in Klam’s eyes and answered with a soft laugh.
“……It’s not obvious because I hide it, but yes—the energy consumption is significant. I just can’t sustain it as long as my father can.”
“That so? I thought for a moment you’d completely overcome the weaknesses of the Drasen Greatsword Technique…….”
The words conjured his father’s face.
“The Drasen Greatsword Technique is undoubtedly powerful, but it has two critical weaknesses.”
“First, the energy consumed in a single strike is enormous. Second, because of those extreme physical transformations, masters can read the movements all too easily.”
“I’ve worked tirelessly to address these flaws, but I still haven’t found an answer. Since the weakness is so tightly bound to the technique’s strength, I can’t even touch the fundamental principles without compromising it.”
“I wish I could help with that, sir.”
Even as Muno smiled in reply, a thought crossed his mind—perhaps he himself was already walking the path toward perfecting it.
Magical Power. An ominous force that corrupted the world’s proper order.
He was neither a sorcerer nor a demon, and yet this power recovered effortlessly through rest and nourishment alone.
Moreover, the Magical Power within him left no outward trace whatsoever.
Compared to when his father channeled secret techniques—the dramatic swelling of his entire body, the violent expansion and contraction of muscles—the changes in Muno were relatively subtle.
If he could master this properly, might it not be possible to perfect the Drasen Greatsword Technique one day?
And if he could even discover how to execute it without Magical Power…
‘Perhaps I could repay the family’s debt.’
The image of his father’s face, wild with joy at the mere thought, bloomed in his mind.
In that brief moment, lost in reverie, a thread suddenly connected to a problem he’d long wrestled with.
Muno broke into a radiant smile, unaware of his own expression—the satisfaction of discovering a new path.
“That said, grinning over corpses is a bit much. It makes it look like you actually enjoy killing.”
That was Klam’s observation—delivered with a light chuckle before he could say more.
“That wasn’t funny, sir.”
“Really? I thought it was rather clever.”
“With respect, sir, you’d be better off resting and recovering. We were meant to arrive tomorrow according to schedule.”
“I sustained these wounds saving you, though…”
Cough.
Right. He had.
“Apologies. Shall I carry you?”
“Never mind that. Get rid of these corpses. We went out of our way to avoid drawing attention, and I’m not about to have these vermin ruin that.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Strip their armor too if you can, then burn what’s left—scatter the ashes.”
“Sir?”
“…That was a joke.”
……
Did this man not know the difference between when he was joking and when he wasn’t?
‘And more to the point, why does he insist on making such terrible jokes?’
Muno simply stared at Klam with exasperation.
“Ahem. What’s with that look? We’ve got about three days to Konnel, and I’ll be combat-ready by then.”
“…Yes, sir.”
“No, I’m telling you—you’re the abnormal one. I’ve seen regeneration specialists before, even at Rank 2, but none of them came close to your level!”
“…Yes, sir.”
“I’m serious.”
“…Yes, sir.”
“Your responses have been lacking any real—”
“…Yes, sir.”
“That wasn’t even a question!?”
“…Yes, sir.”
“Hah… Are you going to keep this up?”
“…Yes, sir.”
“Hey!?”
Through trials both small and large, the two knights had grown unexpectedly close.
They arrived at the County of Konnel, a vassal territory under Trian, exactly three days later.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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